Government has come out with data that NGOs in Tamil Nadu top the list of the non-profit organizations, which have received maximum number of financial support from foreign firms. Earlier in September, the union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had alleged that NGOs lending support to anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) protests are getting financial support from abroad.

WHILE RELEASING a data in the Parliament during the ongoing winter session, the government said that Tamil Nadu (TN) NGOs have received the maximum number of foreign contributions in the past three years.

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According to the date, TN NGOs received as much as 10,119 contributions from abroad with total donations adding up to over Rs 4,800 crore between 2008 and 2011. During this period over 30,000 contributions were received by all NGOs across the country with TN NGOs getting more than 30% of contributions in numbers. The government in its reply also said that there were reports that certain NGOs were engaged in anti-national and political activities.

Government had been previously maintaining that the NGOs were receiving foreign support and with the compiling of this data, it has claimed that its accusations were not unfounded. But activists who are participating in the anti-Kudankulam movement have termed these accusations as 'baseless'.

“I cannot vouch for all the NGOs but I do know that P-MANE, SACCER and the one for which Pushparayan works are all low budget ones built up with the hardwork and commitment of its leaders and members. When our country itself is being run with money that flows from outside how can such charges be made?" Anitha Sharma, an activist, who participated in the anti-nuclear power plant protests at Kudankulam in her individual capacity told this citizen journalist .

Government, while replying to a question over foreign contributions received by NGOs informed the Lok Sabha that CBI is investigating Coimbatore-based NGO Tamil Nadu Muslim Muneetra Kazaghan (TNMMK). TNMMK had lent support to the anti-Kudankulam protests and some of its members were also arrested during a September protest.

Some other NGOs under investigation by the Tamil Nadu Police include AID India (Chennai), SACCER (Nagercoil) and Centre for Promotion of Social Concern, The Times of India reported.